Locking means for release valves



Sept. 15, 1925.

T. F. MGGOVERN LOCKING MEANS FOR RELEASE VALVES Filed April `s. 1923 INVENTOR.

T. F. Mc. GOVLRN Patented Sept. 15, 1925.

UNITED STATES THOMAS F. MCGGVERN,

or DENVER, coLoaano.

LOCKING- MEANS FOR RELEASE VALVES.

Application filed April 5, 1923. Serial No. 630,184.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, THOMAS F. Mo- GovnnN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Denver, in the county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Locking Means for Release Valves, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to release valves and more particularly to the release valves of the auxiliary reservoirs of the air brake system on railway cars, commonly referred to by trainmen and other railway employees, as bleed cocks. Y

Valves of the above description are operated for the release of the air brakes after the engine has been uncoupled by means of rods extending to or slightly beyond the sides of the cars. After the valve has been opened by the use of one of the rods, the operator is obliged to hold the rod until the brakes are entirely disengaged from the wheels.

It is evident that the operation of releasing the brakes, thus conducted, requires a considerable amount of time, and' that especially when the cars are moving, it is not devoid of danger, and it is the object of my invention to obviate the necessity of holding the operating rod after the valve has been opened, by automatically locking it in its adjusted position.

1t is a further object of my invention to provide locking means which permit of the fastened rod of the valve being released by striking or kicking either of the two rods extending at opposite sides of the car, and another object resides in providing locking means which operate by the pressure of a spring in the valve with which the rods arel connected.

An embodiment of my invention has been illustrated in the accompanying drawings in the various views of which like parts are similarly designated and in which- Figure 1 represents a cross-sectional view of a railroad car showing my invention applied to the release valve of the auxiliary reservoir of the air brake system, suspended from the bottom thereof;

Figure 2, an enlarged sectional view of the valve, the operating rods and the locking means having been partly broken away and the locking means at the left hand side of the view having been @witted fOr lack of space; and N Figure 3, a section taken on the line 3 3,

the interior of theV reservoir with a ventopening 7.

A vertically moving valve 8 is normally held upon a seat 9 by the pressure `of a coiled spring 10, and a stem 12 on the valve extends through an opening in the lower end of the housing for its connection with the mechanism by which the valve is lifted off its seat when it is desired to exhaust the air fromthe reservoir.

The operating mechanism comprises a rocker lever 13 engaging the end of the valve stem and movable in either direction upon fulcrum pins 14: which are fastened to an extension of the valve housing and which pass through open bearing recesses formed by hooleshaped ears l5 at opposite ends of the middle portion of the lever which engages the valve stem.

Extending oppositely from said middle portion of the lever in angular relation thereto, are upwardly ranging arms 16 and pivotally connected at the ends of these arms are the operating rods 17 which as mentioned hereinbefore, extend beyond the sides of the car.

The parts so far described are those usually found on railroad cars equipped with the auxiliary reservoir of an air brake system and they form part of the present invention only in their co-operative relation to the locking appliance which will now be described.

Plates 18 fastened at opposite sides of the car have vertical slots 19 through which the rods of the valve operating mechanism extend, and they have at the upper ends of the slots, detents 2O adapted to engage with ratchet teeth 21 in the upper edges of the rods.

It is in the provision of these teeth that the rods differ from those used heretofore, and it is desirable to form the teeth in series to permit of their engaging with the respective detent at different distances from the respective end of the rocker lever.-

In the operation of my invention, the trainman pulls the bar as usual and thereby causes the valve to be lifted of'its seat through movement of the rocker lever about the fulcrum pin at the corresponding side of the valve housing. i Y l lIf with the parts thus positioned, the rod is raised to engage with the detent at the end of the guide slot in the plate, the pressure of the contracted spring 10 exerted upon the opposite end of the rodthrough the intermediary of the rocker lever will hold the ratchet teeth on the rod in mesh with the detent until the rod is released by 4the operator whov strikes, kicks or otherwise forcibly displaces the' rod at either side or' the car and thereby disengages the teeth or' the locked rod from the respective detent, which causes the parts to reassume their normal position by the expansion of the spring. Y

It will thus be seen that my invention provides a simple and effective method' of locking the valve in its open position by action of the springwhich normally holds it toits seat.`

y What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent' is:

The combination with a railway car and the auxiliary reservoir of an air brake system on said car, of avrelease valve depending from the auxiliary reservoir and having a downwardly projecting valve stem movable upwardly to open the release valve, said valve having a spring for urging the valve stem downwardly to maintain the valve normally closed, an angular rocker lever located beneath the valve stem and having spaced bearing recesses at the lower edge,spaced fulcrum pins carried by the valve and passing through the said recesses and supporting the said lever, the latter being adapted to be rocked to lift the valve stem and open the valve, guides located at the sides of the car and Aprovided with vertical slots and pull rods pivotally connected with the ends of the yangular rocker lever and having the outer portions arranged in the said slots and provided with notches vfor engaging the guides at the top of the slots for maintaining the valve in open position, said pull rods being adapted' to be disengaged from the guides by a downward movement of the outer portions.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

THOMASV F. MCGOVERN. 

